The local authorities of China's Tibet Autonomous Region have launched a series of urgent measures on bird flu control to prevent the epidemic from spreading outside this capital of the region, where Tibet's first suspected case of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu was confirmed Monday.

Officials of the regional bird flu control headquarters said Shannan and Xigaze prefectures were the key areas of the epidemic control measures in Tibet, and the first batch of disinfecting equipment has arrived in Lhasa.

Since the first suspected case was reported at the Yaowangshan Market in Lhasa Feb. 8, Tibet has set up disinfection and examination stations at all border trade ports and along the main highways linking Tibet and other provinces and regions, to disinfect all vehicles passing in and out of Tibet.

The regional government has also sent six teams to inspect the work of bird flu control around the region, and governments at all levels in the region are required to report their work on bird flu control every day.

On Feb. 8 and 9, more than 400 chickens died at the Yaowangshan Market, and the city government immediately closed the market, where all surviving the poultry were then killed.

Meanwhile, all poultry within a three-km radius of the market have been killed and disposed of safely. In addition, compulsory vaccination has been imposed on all poultry within a five-km radius of the market.

By 20:00 p.m. Sunday, nearly 23,000 head of poultry had been killed, according to the headquarters.

So far, more than forty counties in 15 of China's provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions have confirmed outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, but no human infection has been reported.

(Xinhua News Agency February 16, 2004)